Can cuts be spaced out?

[Todd]

Does diluting low wines down to 40% for a run have the effect of stretching out the fractions - or where cuts should be made?

The message ' don't run over 40%' is repeated a lot in the context of safety....

But also, compared to running a higher %, it seems like fores through tails will be more separated in output volume, and time with a 40% run.

At least for pot stills, and not so much heavy reflux stills.

[Wellsy]

Gidday Todd
Dont run low wines at a higher than 40% ABV is the golden rule to stop things blowing up or exploding in a fireball.
The perception the cuts are easier when you run low wines at 40% is simply due to the volume. To keep the numbers easy lets assume a 50l litre wash will give you a total of 10 ltrs of low wines which converts to 2 litres of hearts if you did the wash as a spirit run. If you are taking 250 ml cuts there is a lot of smearing and the hearts can be difficult to find as there is only 2 litres.
If however you run 50 litres of low wines, that is the equivalent of running a 250 litre wash, and there will be 10 litres of hearts. Smearing will occur but as you have 10 litres of hearts it is so much easier to find the start and finish as there is a bigger gap between them.
The above numbers are just as an example mate. The above is also my theory from what i have seen. The experienced guys will be sure to correct the explanation if it is way off.
hope that makes sense

[RuddyCrazy]

G'Day Todd,
Just like everything in life maths is involved and in distilling it can be used as a good guide :handgestures-thumbupleft:

So with your ferment by taking the SG and the FG one can know the alc% so by dividing that with the volume will give you a guide into what alc is there. Now with a 40% spirit run using the same method with the volume will give you a guide on how much you will get.

Last week when I used my glass still I did take a heap of notes and thoughts and by measuring the ABV and the volume the result was pretty well spot on. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Now by taking smaller cuts for the head portion will give a good guide after leaving the cuts for a day or two as we do need to let the angels have a drink and for some reason they really love the heads :scared-eek:

With my run I took 50ml cuts and after 2 days the angels drank 7ml from the first cut jar, 5ml from the second and 2ml from the third. After that the angels got turned off on the hearts. So by taking smaller cuts it will help seeing the transition from heads to hearts easily but when running the still learn to use your nose mate as heads does smell like nail polish remover :puke-huge: and hearts doesn't have a smell, now when entering tails a scent will appear and get more intense as it it close to the end of the run and smell like wet cardboard or a mangy dog depending on what is the run.

Cheers Bryan

[Todd]

Thanks guys,

Bryan, thanks for pointing out about airing. I have read about cuts from a few sources. Re reading, the airing step is there but didn't sink in the first time.
As an experiment, I'll measure a little cheeply made vodka and leave it out tonight, see how what happens in a day or two.

Wellsy, Its kind of like you could imagine thers a multiplying effect when running low wines compared the the original wash. I think thats neat way of thinking about it.